The present invention relates to a method and a reagent for the quantitative determination of cholesterol in remnant-like particles which is considered as a risk factor for arteriosclerosis and other diseases in clinical tests.
In clinical tests, cholesterol in high density lipoprotein (HDL) is considered as a negative risk factor for arteriosclerosis and cholesterol in low density lipoprotein (LDL) is considered as a positive risk factor for arteriosclerosis. Thus, the determination of cholesterol of such classes is frequently performed in the field of clinical testing. In recent years, it has been demonstrated that cholesterol in lipoproteins formed by lipid metabolism and the like is a more closely linked risk factor for arteriosclerosis than LDL cholesterol. Such lipoproteins include remnant-like particles, and the determination of cholesterol in remnant-like particles is given health insurance scores by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in Japan.
For the determination of cholesterol in remnant-like particles, a method is known which comprises separating remnant-like particles from a sample using anti apolipoprotein B100 antibody and anti apolipoprotein A1 antibody, and measuring cholesterol in the separated remnant-like particles [Arteriosclerosis (Domyakukoka), 25 (9, 10), 371 (1998)]. However, this method employs affinity chromatography using antibodies and requires separation of components of a sample, which makes it a cumbersome and time-consuming method.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method and a reagent for the simple and sensitive determination of cholesterol in remnant-like particles without the separation of components of a sample.